Jellymoon....

[indymom1]

Welcome back I am glad that you had a good time. Please check your private messages I sent you one earlier today

 

[cruisnfamily]

Jellymoon:
Two questions if you don't mind......It's absolutely none of my business but I've been wondering ever since you raised this question about a month ago:

1)How did it work out with the family "saying grace" on your cruise? Hopefully everything worked out to everyone's satisfaction.

2)Also, were they enforcing the non-potty trained thing in the pools? We were on the 9/22 wonder and I saw plenty of little ones splashing in the ears that couldn't possibly have been potty trained and I didn't see anyone enforcing anything...of course I could have just missed it.

Hope your cruise was magical....will you be posting a trip report?

 

[jellymoon]

thanks for remembering me. Everything went great--- do you ever get in a panic before your leave?

Our kids rarely ate with us, and having spent four days in the parks prior to the cruise the schedule and routine was completely thrown off anyway so the grace issue didn't become one. My main concern was for my son who desperately relies on routine--- however, he has a magical fascination with Disney (it is really an amazing thing, he has an uncommon genetic syndrome and I'm thinking they should rename it "Disneymaniac Syndrome" in his honor!!!). He broke his routine just fine--- and he didn't stop talking the ENTIRE TRIP, so we definately were able to hear what he liked and enjoyed. So, we did our prayers at bedtime. The dining rooms were chaotic and loud and distracting--- there is no way the kids could have focused. The whole issue was one of those things where I thought: "Why was I so worried about this?" and actually became an embarrassment to me that I even brought it up. Made me a little nervous to introduce myself to other DISers (LOL), especially as the internet really doesn't allow you to share inflection of voice, etc. And there were LOTS of DISers there!!

The pool thing worked out fine too. There were tons of infants and toddlers (including infants just four or so months old) in the Mickey Pool. I have to admit, after reading the DIS boards regarding the water diseases I was a bit nervous about letting any of the kids swim!!! But we did just a little bit. Honestly, we hardly had time we were so busy. The little girls (1 and 2 years old) went to the Mickey Pool twice for about 25 minutes each time. The big kids went 3 times. I had forgotten how shallow the Mickey Pool really is which was very convenient. The "ears" portion really has not quite an inch of water in it. Unless you scooped the water up with a cup, you couldn't drink it. The "face" of the pool is just about 3 feet deep. And it is a small pool. The population in the pool is basically infants, toddler, up to about 5 year olds. I didn't see many older kids hanging out there (except when the slide was open, but then they didn't really do the pool thing--- just the slide which does not empty out into the pool).

I also noticed that the bottom of the Mickey pool is painted kind of a creamy/beige color. When walking past it does make the pool look kind of murky and questionable in color. However, I think it was the paint on the bottom of the pool that gave it that color.

AGain, the pool thing was another of those "why did I worry so much?" Oh my goodness. If I ever meet you all I hope you'll let me start over and know that I'm really not completely crazy and over sensitive!!! I didn't realize until we were gone how much I really really needed a vacation. I feel like a new person, so relaxed and so grateful that we had the chance to have such a great two week family vacation!!!

If anyone has questions about cruising with young kids, or kids with disabilities, please feel free to PM me!!!

 

[cruisnfamily]

Yes, I know all about that pre trip panic......all the What If's and such. You shouldn't have been embarassed to introduce yourself because you didn't do or say anything wrong.....you were just raising some concerns you had. I'm glad that you did meet up with some folks! I'm also happy that it all worked out and there are plenty of times where I've been like "why did I even worry about this" about things, and my husband is famous for being the "I told you so" guy when this happens.

How did your son do in the club? Did you inform him of his special needs or did you just wing it? Did all the kids enjoy the clubs?

 

[Wishing on a star]

I am so glad that you had such a great trip. And, especially with your son, I TOTALLY understand about the 'routine' thing!! Once, we took a three day get-away, and the excitement and the break from the everyday routine actually did my son (who was also into 'routine' (and all of us) a world of good!

Wow, after all that we have heard about the Mickey Pool, they WERE letting the babies swim??? Boy, just do not know what to expect from one day to the next.

Now, you just have to count down to your next cruise!!


PS: I have always wondered how many kids were on board in the Fall in the off-season. I am going to put out a thread on that too. Did you ever hear how many kids were onboard your cruise? How crowded were the Mickey Pool and the Kids Club?

 

[jellymoon]

My 4 yo dd LOVED the clubs. We had to pry her out of there!!! It was much harder for ds7, though. The staff was friendly and accomodating, but it was pretty overwhelming for Sam. On our first Castaway Cay day, we had Flounders ressies for our two younger girls in the afternoon, and dh and I planned to hang out in hammocks on Serenity Bay for a little bit. DH took the girls back and I checked the older kids in at Scuttles Cove. Then, I went to observe from a distance. It broke my heart to see my son struggle so much. It wasn't that anyone was actively being mean to him, but all the kids were pretty much ignoring him, and everytime he went near a group of boys they'd kind of look at him and walk away. Once I saw him try to do some water bucket dump that was part of a game, and I saw kids laughing. He looked truly miserable. At that point, even though he is 7, I wished he was in the 3/4 group so that he'd be with his sister--- they love being together. I actually checked into that ,and they were willing to make the switch, but it would have to be permenant an dnot just for that day. Anyway, after watching for a few minutes I actually went back to Scuttles and thought I'd check in on him. Sure enough, when I got to him the counselor said she was just about to page me because he had asked for me. After that day, he really didn't want to go to the clubs at all--- unless there was a movie or something like that where the social interactions were less high pressure.

The staff was great with him, and the few times he went to the club and around the ship it was clear that every single counselor in the 5-7 group knew him. He loved doing the "Remember the Magic" show with everyone else (if anyone was on the cruise and saw the show, he was the one in the middle taking big bows during the applause, LOL!!)

Fortunately, the clubs to us were just another option for the kids to have fun so it wasn't a big deal that it didn't really impress him too much. On the other hand, DD as I mentioned loved them a lot. I just figured, we were on vacation-- and so was he-- -and we weren't going to check him in if he was going to struggle and feel frustrated there. That didn't sound like much fun at all!!! He did love the late evenings when they showed movies. And, he loved the activity of learning to be a pirate!!! All totalled over the 7 days, he probalby spent about 7 hours total in the clubs.

Jelly.